Ronnie Moran, the patriarch of one of Ohio’s most successful racing families who fielded cars for Late Model standouts and longtime promoter of Muskingum County Speedway, died Thursday evening. The Frazeysburg, Ohio, resident was 87.

Moran, who fielded cars for his son Donnie and grandson Devin among other drivers, bought the Muskingum County oval in 1980 and promoted the track from 1992-2012 (after non-Moran promotions in 2014-15, the family took back over in 2016).

Devin Moran dedicated his runner-up finish on the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series to his grandfather at Friday’s postseason banquet in Indianapolis, Ind.

“He’s the man that started my racing for me,” 30-year-old Devin Moran said from the stage. “When I was 13, I was itching to get into a race car. I was begging my dad — which my dad I was still racing and I can’t blame him for that — so I went to my grandpa and I said, ‘Hey, I’m ready to get in this race car. He said, ‘You’re allowed to get in it, you've just gotta work on it.’ So I took it to the shop and didn’t know a thing and started working on it. From then on, he’s been major supporter for me.

“I feel like he lived the last couple of years just so he could watch me race. This year at Muskingum, which is the only racetrack he could go to, I obviously won the race that night, and me and him and my dad got a picture for the last race he was ever at. … It was an amazing memory and probably the best memory I had all year.”

Arrangements are incomplete.